Doohan’s best time, a 1:31.788s, saw him end the day less than two-tenths away from a spot in the top 10.
Friday’s track action was especially challenging for teams and drivers with the two hours of running held in wildly different conditions.
Opening practice took place under the hot afternoon sun before Free Practice 2 commenced at sunset, far more representative conditions.
“Better, for sure, compared to FP1,” Doohan said, despite sitting seventh best after the opening hour.
“Struggled quite a lot in FP1. Still not 100 percent happy on my side in FP2 and not the cleanest of laps.
“It’s quite tricky out there with the conditions; heat and wind.
“It’s so close, I think two-tenths and we’re P9, close to P8, and that’s the difference between being just in Q2 and into Q3, so we need to keep our heads down.”
Doohan’s Free Practice 2 effort left him 1.283s off the outright pace set by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
McLaren looks a step ahead of the pack in Bahrain practice with the midfield especially close.
That saw Isack Hadjar feature well inside the top 10 for Racing Bulls, while Oliver Bearman (Haas) and the Williams pairing of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz also showed promising speed.
On Doohan’s pace, Alpine too is somewhere in the mix.
“I made a couple mistakes over the end of my lap which cost a couple of tenths, and a couple of tenths is the difference of P14 to P9,” he said.
“Then also just piecing the machine together a bit better and getting the fine tunings.
“P3 will be a little bit irrelevant considering the conditions again being so hot, but we just need to push through that and focus on qualifying.”
Free Practice 3 begins at 22:30 AEST this evening, with Qualifying to follow at 02:00 AEST on Sunday morning.
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